Yun Qing's troop finally manage to capture Haocheng but suffer heavy casualties; they fear the arrival of Imperial Suppression Army
After four days and nights of assault, the Northwest army still failed to capture Haocheng. By this time, blood had flowed like a river1, and corpses lay strewn across the fields2.
Cui Mo said anxiously, "General, we've already lost more than seventy thousand men. If this continues, all our soldiers will be wiped out." Cavalry excelled in ground combat, but they were useless in siege warfare.
Yun Qing said expressionlessly, "We have suffered heavy losses, but so have they. I believe they won't be able to hold out much longer." Now, it was a matter of who could endure until the end. Whoever held on would secure the final victory.
Seeing the grief on Cui Mo's face, Yun Qing said, "This is the final difficult barrier. Once we overcome this, we will win. Haocheng is the symbol of the Northwest. Capturing Haocheng means the outcome has been decided."
After another day of battle, nearly ten thousand more men and horses were lost. Guan Tai, covered in blood, met Yun Qing and reported, "General, I think Haocheng is about to fall." This statement meant there was hope of breaching the city.
Yun Qing said nothing; he simply ordered food to be brought. After finishing a large bowl of rice and vegetables, he wiped his mouth and led Gao Song and the others onto the battlefield.
Yun Qing's presence immediately boosted the soldiers' morale. With the Great General on the field, it was clear that this was the decisive moment of the battle.
After six days and five nights of fighting, they finally captured Haocheng. Still, the Northwestern Army had also paid a heavy price. Of the 160,000 soldiers who had attacked Haocheng, over 60,000 remained, with nearly 100,000 killed or wounded.
Yun Qing stood atop the highest point of the city wall and looked at the piles of corpses inside and outside the wall. He wore a sorrowful expression.
Yu Cong said, "General, there are still many matters that require your decision!" Although the price was high, the outcome was favourable for them.
Yun Qing immediately restrained his emotions and said, "Summon Yuan Ying..."
Yu Cong replied sadly, "General, Yuan Ying has been badly wounded..." All the accompanying officers had sustained injuries to varying degrees. Although Yu Cong was also injured, his wound was not serious. Yuan Ying's injury was the most severe.
Yun Qing's expression changed immediately as he asked, "Is his life in danger?"
Yu Cong shook his head. "His life isn't in danger, but it's serious." An injury to the lungs was damaging to one's very foundation; not only could Yuan Ying no longer lead troops, he could no longer practise martial arts either.
Yu Qing's expression darkened as he instructed, "Then summon Du Zheng." The current victory had been won at the cost of the brothers' lives, so he had no right to sit here lamenting the passing of spring and autumn3.
Yu Qing summoned Cui Mo and Du Zheng for a mission: "Du Zheng, take 30,000 troops and immediately go occupy Tongguan." Tongguan was located at the Yellow River crossing and was positioned at the strategic intersection of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces. It controlled the post road from Chang'an to Luoyang and served as the eastern gate of the Guanzhong region, making it a contested military stronghold throughout history.
Du Zheng hesitated, then asked, "General, we only have 60,000 troops left. If you give me 30,000 of them, do you think we'll be able to hold our current position?"
Yun Qing replied, "Don't worry. I will quickly reinforce the troops. Get ready and set out tomorrow morning." Now, time was of the essence.
Du Zheng had a question he had always wanted to ask: "General, it's been almost two months now, hasn't it? Why hasn't the Imperial Army arrived yet?" The delay in the arrival of the Imperial Army was working in their favour; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to take Haocheng. However, there was something fishy about this, no matter how one looked at it.
Yun Qing said, "The Governor-General of Henan, He Ye, and Ji Xuan are sworn enemies who cannot live under the same sky4. But just because He Ye didn't support Ji Xuan before doesn't mean he won't deploy troops now. You must be extremely cautious."
It was precisely because He Ye and Ji Xuan were enemies that Grand Chancellor Yu transferred He Ye to Henan as Governor-General. Although Yu Boda was the Commander-in-Chief of Shu, the delay had naturally been prolonged due to the cold weather and mountainous terrain.
Du Zheng was worried, but seeing Yun Qing's calm expression, he kept his concerns to himself. "General, I will defend Tongguan well."
Soon afterwards, Guan Tai came in and reported a matter to Yun Qing. "General, Xie Li's entire family has committed su*cide."
Yun Qing's pupils narrowed. "All of them?" Jie Li had caused such heavy losses that, although Yun Qing respected him, he would not spare Jie Li or his family. Yun Qing wasn't cruel-hearted; he just knew that one had to be merciless when dealing with enemies.
Guan Tai nodded. "Not the entire Jie family, only Jie Li's branch. There were eighteen people in his household; all of them are dead, and their bodies have been found."
Yun Qing said, "Give them a proper burial."
Ding Qingyu, who was waiting outside for Guan Tai, asked, "I heard Jie Li's entire family committed su*cide. Is this true?"
Guan Tai nodded. "It's true."
Ding Qingyu said, "Jie Li only had one son, Jie Junxiong, but he had six grandsons, seven granddaughters, and even a great-grandson."
Guan Tai asked, "How old is Jie Li's great-grandson?" Jie Li had caused the deaths of so many and even gravely injured General Yuan. If the Jie family wasn't wiped out, he couldn't swallow this grievance.
Ding Qingyu replied, "He's around two to three months old. General Guan, if you don't root out the weeds completely, they will grow again when the spring breeze blows5." Since they were mortal enemies, there could be no mercy.
Guan Tai nodded. "You don't need to tell me that. But I recall you saying that Jie Junxiong is only thirty-one. How does he have a grandson?" The ages didn't add up.
Ding Qingyu responded, "Jie Junxiong's eldest son hasn't married yet; this child was born to a tongfang6. It's said that this tongfang6 was the flesh of the master's heart7."
Guan Tai couldn't help but praise him: "Mr Ding, it seems you truly know the families of Haocheng well. You even know about Master Jie's tongfang6; your research is very thorough."
Ding Qingyu responded, "No one knows the families in Haocheng better than I do. If I assist you, you will gain even more." Now was the time to recommend himself actively rather than wait around foolishly — after all, meat pies didn't fall from the sky8.
Guan Tai's eyes lit up as he said, "No problem, I'll report to the General right now." Having someone to assist would make things much easier for him.
Yun Qing did not reject Guan Tai's request but said, "The Jie family is prestigious in the Northwest. Without my word, do not act for now." It was better to win such families over than to exterminate them completely. They truly needed talented people at present.
Guan Tai voiced no objection.
Yun Qing reminded Guan Tai, "It's fine to let him help you, but make sure you have someone watching him." Yun Qing didn't fully trust Ding Qingyu.
Guan Tai nodded. "General, if he dares to have any evil intentions, I'll take his life." However, Guan Tai believed that Ding Qingyu wasn't foolish enough to betray them at this point.
Yun Qing took Gao Song to visit Yuan Ying, who was still conscious when they arrived. Yun Qing asked, "How are you? Feeling any better?"
Yuan Ying smiled before answering, "I'm fine. I won't die." After all, he didn't even die when fighting the northern barbarians, so how could he let himself die here? That would be far too meaningless.
Yun Qing felt these words were ominous, so he advised, "Focus on recovering; don't overthink."
Yuan Ying truly didn't think too much of it; after a recovery period, he would undoubtedly be bouncing around lively again. He said, "My subordinate, Gao Rushan, has been handling prisoners for me. He's quite experienced, so it should be no problem to leave it to him."
Yun Qing nodded in agreement but was too busy to chat with Yuan Ying. "Just focus on recovering for now."
Haocheng, the most prosperous city in the Northwest, had many physicians. All of them had been summoned to treat the wounded. The physician treating Yuan Ying was surnamed He and was highly renowned.
After leaving the room, Yun Qing asked Physician He, "How serious is General Yuan's injury?" Earlier, Yuan Ying's condition did not look very good.
Physician He replied, "General Yuan has sustained an injury to his lungs. Although his life isn't in danger, he won't be able to perform strenuous activities anymore." The heart and lungs were vital organs. Injuring the lungs was like damaging the very foundation.
Yun Qing's expression darkened; this meant Yuan Ying would no longer be able to lead troops into battle. Nevertheless, at least his life was safe — a blessing in disguise.
Guan Tai first confiscated the Governor's residence. Although Ji Xuan had fled, he had left most of his belongings behind. While wealth was significant, life was more important. Nevertheless, Guan Tai only seized a little over a million taels of silver and some gold scattered around the residence. They had previously seized more than this amount from a magistrate's house.
Guan Tai was not foolish; he was sure that Ji Xuan had hidden his wealth elsewhere. "Arrest all these servants and interrogate them about where Ji Xuan hid the silver, gold, and jewels. If they truthfully confess, we'll spare their lives. If not, we'll skin them alive." Anyone who followed Ji Xuan couldn't be up to anything good anyway.
What frustrated Guan Tai was that none of the servants knew where Ji Xuan hid his wealth. Ding Qingyu uttered, "Ji Xuan raised and maintained so many private soldiers; he must have spent all the money he plundered."
Guan Tai gave Ding Qingyu a sarcastic glance and questioned, "Do you take me for a fool? How much does maintaining twenty to thirty thousand private soldiers for a year cost? And how much has Ji Xuan plundered in the Northwest?"
Ding Qingyu responded, "We still don't know exactly how many private soldiers Ji Xuan was keeping."
Guan Tai didn't react to Ding Qingyu's statement. Instead, he assigned a trusted subordinate with 300 men to guard the Ji family residence and secure the treasures. Meanwhile, he continued plundering other households.
Haocheng was the most prosperous city in the Northwest, full of officials and even more wealthy people, unmatched elsewhere. The wealth confiscated here was greater than that seized in all previous raids combined, not to mention the medicinal herbs, cloth and grain gathered.
Yun Qing was too busy to handle the prisoners himself, so he assigned the recently promoted Gao Rushan to do it instead. This time was different — Yun Qing had left the prisoners with no choice. Except for the wounded, who could return home, the rest would all be conscripted into the army. Their losses had been so great that Yun Qing had to quickly replenish his troops by recruiting soldiers and buying more horses.
Guan Tai returned early in the morning to see Yun Qing. Noticing his grave expression, he asked, "General, what's happened?" He guessed that the Imperial Suppression Army might have arrived.
Yun Qing replied, "No, it's the northern barbarians making moves. It may not be long before their army approaches the gates of Yu City."
Hearing this, Guan Tai's face darkened as well: "It seems the northern barbarians have gotten word and want to seize the opportunity to capture Yu City."
It wouldn't be too worrying if it were only the northern barbarians. But the Imperial Suppression Army was likely to arrive soon as well. What Yun Qing had feared most had happened. The price of capturing Haocheng this time was far too high; otherwise, they wouldn't have to be in such a passive position.
Footnotes Full List
- 血流成河 (xuèliúchénghé): a metaphor for extremely heavy casualties
- 尸横遍野 (shīhéngbiànyě): idiom meaning dead bodies were everywhere
- (悲春秋 (bēi chūnqiū): To lament spring and autumn; to be overly sentimental/melancholy. This is a condensed version of "悲秋伤春" (bēi qiū shāng chūn), which means to be sentimental or melancholy, especially when affected by the changing seasons (spring and autumn). It implies being overly emotional, perhaps indulging in self-pity or unnecessary sadness.
- 不同戴天的仇人 (bùtóngdàitiān de chóurén): idiom meaning mortal enemies
- 斩草不除根春风春有生 (zhǎn cǎo bù chú gēn, chūnfēng chuī yòu shēng): proverb meaning if you don't eliminate the problem entirely, it will return
- 通房 (tōng fáng): a personal maid who also serves as a concubine
- 心头肉 (xīntóuròu): an idiom for someone dearly cherished
- 天上是没馅饼可掉的 (tiān shàng shì méi xiàn bǐng kě diào de): an idiom meaning nothing comes for free
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